Besides, the governorship hopeful pledged to place priority on food security through agricultural reformation, build an effective security network and establish an independent power plant that will generate 100 megawatts in two years of his administration.
Bashir made the promises at the weekend while declaring his intention to join the 2023 governorship race in Kano.
He, however, alleged fraud in the award and construction of uncompleted multi-million dollar 10 megawatts Tiga Independent Hydro Power Plant under construction in the last nine years.
He said: “The contract was awarded at $1,750 per megawatt. The cost is outrageous and I don’t know anywhere in the world where such an estimate is awarded. By standard, the award is not more than $1,200 per megawatt. Worse still, the contractor handling the project is only a transformer certified repairer with no experience in building energy plants.
“Apart from that, the power plant sited near Tiga Dam, about 45 kilometres away from the city centre, is not only wrongly located, but is counterproductive. By sensitivity analysis distance, not less than 25 per cent of energy would be lost during energy channel and evacuation because of the long distance. So the entire project was ill-conceived, wrongly awarded and fraudulently cost,” he said.
Bashir expressed worry about the rationale behind the N8 billion flyover project undertaken by Ganduje’s administration, when according to him, Kano parade 3 million out-of-school children and 85 percent of public primary and secondary schools are grossly underfunded in the state.
“Our primary concern and focus from day one will be centred around the onerous task of reviving and sustaining this cherished triple heritage that has served us very well for generations. The centrepiece of our economic development initiatives will be the revival of agriculture and its allied value-added industries.
“Kano will major in irrigation engineering and technology, and greenhouse technology will dot the landscape of the state. We shall strive to be among the top three states in terms of GDP and per capita income in six years. We shall turn around the fortunes of Kano from a consumer economy to an active production hub.
“We shall restore the credibility, commercial leadership position, ethics, moral and social values of our state that have long been lost to selfish and egotistical corrupt leadership. As a cosmopolitan state, we shall commit to ethnic and religious harmony and peaceful coexistence among all citizens of the state,” Bashir said.
